Make A Choice
by BeautifulAccola
Summary: Marcel is fed up with Klaus's annoyingly persistent attempts at ruling the city. So he makes Sophie Devereaux cast a spell on two women who have a hold on him. Klaus is being forced to choose to save either Hayley or Caroline. Who will he choose? NO Hope Headcanons galore


Caroline groaned in obvious pain as she felt the sickening familiar click of the bones in her neck, they were reconnecting. She lied still for a moment as she tried to regain her bearings. She tried to remember what had happened before she was, technically, killed and her mind came up blank for several minutes.

As she sat up and saw the blood on the front of her shirt, the memories popped up in her mind's eye.

"_Excuse me?" She heard a voice call from behind her while she was crossing the street to her car. It had been a long day: helping Elena cope with Damon's loss, planning Bonnie's funeral, standing by Stefan's side as he was riddled with guilt. It all had proven to be too much for her to handle so she sought refuge at the bottom of a bottle._

_As a vampire, it took a whole lot more than it used to for Caroline to get drunk. Tonight, she only had one bottle and only felt slightly buzzed, but it was enough to calm her out-of-control emotions._

_Turning around, standing in the middle of the empty street in front of the Grille, she saw a man walking out of the building, almost as if he had been following her._

"_Can I help you?" She asked politely, hiding her sudden attraction to him._

_He was handsome, and built. His dark skin contrasted greatly with his white shirt and beige jacket. Caroline was slightly disappointed to see that his head was shaven, she liked men with plenty of hair for her to hold onto._

"_Actually, I want to ask you a question. It's simple really, I won't waste any of your time." He said with a smile, showing off perfectly white, straight teeth._

I'll tell you anything, _she thought to herself before smiling and shrugging lightly, "Ask away, then."_

"_Are you Caroline Forbes?" He asked and just like that, Caroline felt a sickening cold settle deep in her stomach, something was wrong. His facial expression shifted ever so slightly, his gaze shifting to something sardonic._

"_Who's asking?" She asked while crossing her arms, she was prepared to either fight back or run away screaming. She felt it in her bones, this wasn't going to end well._

"_I'm just a…I'm an old friend of Klaus'." The man chuckled, "Well, I might as well tell you. I'm Marcel. Klaus' son."_

_Caroline couldn't help but laugh, "You're delusional. Klaus doesn't have children. It's impossible."_

_Marcel shrugged as he took a step toward her, "He adopted me almost 200 years ago."_

Oh, well that made more sense. Stupid, stupid Caroline, _she thought to herself as she took a step back, closer to her car. "So what do you want with me? What? Did he ask for me?" Caroline asked, slightly hopeful._

_That made Marcel laugh harder than was polite, "No. It took a lot of digging to find out about you. I just want you to come with me as a sort of bargaining chip. Klaus needs to be taught a certain lesson and I think you're just the person who can teach him that."_

_She shook her head vehemently, "No way. I'm not gonna be some pawn in some stupid scheme you and your "father" have going on." She sneered while she used air quotes before turning and walking away hastily._

_Marcel appeared in front of her and smiled tightly, "I'm sorry, I don't think you understood me. I wasn't asking you to join me. I was telling you that you're coming with me, whether you like it or not." He said while grabbing the top of her arms._

_She lifted her knee up sharply, landing a solid hit to his groin and felt a sense of empowerment as he crumpled to the floor, a groaning mess. Attempting to use her supernatural speed to her advantage, she dashed to her car but felt a tight hand at the back of her neck. She didn't even have a chance to scream before the sharp crunch rang in her ears and in the air and the world went black._

"Oh my god." She whispered under her breath as she looked around the room she was in, it was a dungeon of sorts, her hands and ankles were bound by chains and she could feel the Novocain type numbness oozing through her veins; vervain. "Marcel! Marcel where are you?! Let me out!" She shouted in a cracked voice.

There was no answer.

* * *

><p>Marcel walked briskly toward The Abattoir, an angry set to his jaw as he neared the door he knew would lead him to whom he wanted to see.<p>

Before he had the chance to even grab at the doorknob, the door swung open to reveal a furious looking Klaus. "I received your little message. Where did you take Hayley?"

"I take it you killed the messenger before he could finish saying what he needed to." Marcel said with a small laugh.

Klaus crossed his arms, "What else was there? Who else is there for you to take away and hide in an effort, however futile, to hurt me?"

"Well, I thought about taking Elijah or even Rebekah. But I really don't want to die by their hands by trying, nor do I have the capabilities to actually kill them, so I did some digging." Marcel started as walked away, roaming the courtyard. "And, I was shocked to learn about your time over in Mystic Falls, Virginia."

Marcel felt empowered as he saw Klaus' jaw clench and that nervous stance set in his shoulders. "As your messenger said, I have until sunrise to save someone I wouldn't want to see die. Who did you take? A certain Gilbert perhaps? A Salvatore?"

"Oh no. I heard it through the grapevine that you seemed to cozy up to those Salvatores, well one in particular, after you left this place. But, I didn't want to take him. Stefan Salvatore is too…rudimentary for what I have planned. I dug a bit further and I found out you had a pretty nice thing going with a blonde little vamp." Marcel said with a glint in his eyes, waiting to see Klaus snag on the bait he just cast.

And, never failing, Klaus growled deep from within his chest and raised a hand with a single finger pointing at him, "If you touch her, I swear I'll-"

"You'll what? Kill me? You wouldn't want to end up like Mikael now would you? You'd really kill your own _son_? Besides, it's already been done."

"Where is she?" Klaus said with a threatening undertone, as if one wrong move and Marcel would be killed.

"Hayley and Caroline are in two separate places. You'll only have enough time to save one of them. It's four o'clock in the morning already, so I'd say you have roughly two hours to go to and save _one_ of them."

"What are you hoping to accomplish? To make me give up my quest to rule a city I created?"

"Pretty much. The city ran perfectly before you got here and you're just messing it up for everyone by trying. You're trying to take away what makes _me_ happy, you're trying to take away something that _I _love. I'm just doing the same to you."

"And what makes you think I _love_ Hayley or Caroline?"

"Your reaction when you realized I took Caroline speaks wonders, Klaus. And you killing the messenger tells me plenty about Hayley, too." Marcel smirked, "Now, you have until sunrise to find and save them. Hayley is in the place you two shared a special moment. Caroline is being kept somewhere in this very city." He laughed while taking a small step back and raising his arms on either side.

Klaus growled and took a step toward him but Marcel shook his head, "I have people watching and waiting. I die and they kill them. It's a perfect fail safe. If you try to kill me or even if you try to save them both, they both die anyway." He mocked before speeding away on foot leaving Klaus to make his choice.

* * *

><p>Hayley screamed in anger as she once again tried to leave the house and was met with an invisible wall.<p>

She had woken up no more than an hour ago, remembering Marcel telling her that she was needed to show Klaus who was boss and then he had snapped her neck.

At first she was afraid that she was dead, _again._ Then she remembered that she was a hybrid now, thanks to Klaus and his stupid idea that maybe, just maybe he could make one more of these damned eternal werewolves. She couldn't be mad at him for turning her now, she rather liked being able to breathe. But it pissed her off that she could so easily be incapacitated.

Walking briskly to the window nearest the door, she attempted to open it but was flung to the floor. "I hate witches." Hayley sneered before picking herself up and looking around the house.

Why was she even here? She hadn't been in this house in a long time. It was Klaus' perfect mansion where he did all his Mystic Falls evil. Her only connection to it was that one night stand she and Klaus had had so long ago.

And what did Marcel mean about teaching Klaus a lesson? None of this made sense.

It was then, that she heard chanting coming from somewhere outside of the house. She'd heard it enough times to know that it was a witch performing a spell. Her heart dropped in an instant, she'd never had good luck when it came to witches.

She came to New Orleans not too long ago, looking for her family. She asked the wrong people and they took their anger for her long lost family out on her. They had said that her family had caused many deaths and great wars between the species and they sent her away to be safe. If Klaus hadn't intervened on her behalf, she would've been dead long ago. He had assured the witches that he would kill her himself, because he had ties to those wars just as they did.

She had thought he was bluffing and just wanted to save her, she had thought that maybe that night in Mystic Falls meant something to him, too. She was wrong. His biological father's family was involved in that war and many of them died. Apparently he was just as interested in finding his family as she was in finding hers and he cared a great deal for them.

And so, he killed her. He got the bright idea to use her to make one last hybrid, to use her as an experiment. He had told her that if he did not succeed and she died during her transition, that he'd be doing the witches a favor and if she became a hybrid, she'd be his _little wolf bitch_ to do his bidding.

Now, with her standing in a house, trapped thanks to his asshole of a son, with a witch outside chanting God knows what, she wished she had never survived the transformation.

Slowly, she made her way to the window and looked outside, sure enough there was a woman standing there. Maybe she had seen her in town before…Sophie, she thinks her name was. She was one of the few witches that didn't hate Hayley's guts.

"What are you doing?!" Hayley yelled out, hoping the witch heard her.

She must've, because she looked up and stopped chanting, "I'm doing what Marcel wants. Either you or someone else is going to die. It's all up to Klaus. He must choose who survives. I'd pray he picks me, if I were you. Your death won't be pleasant. I'm sorry." She said in sad voice, as if she were being forced to do it. "If Klaus isn't here to save you by sunrise, my spell will take affect and you'll die."

"Oh you've got to be kidding me." Hayley cried out as Sophie walked to her car and left.

* * *

><p>Caroline kept yanking at the chains binding her and would scream in anger and fear every time they wouldn't budge.<p>

"Don't bother. They're spelled." A voice came from behind her, making her jump. Caroline didn't recognize her and asked in a scared voice, "What are you doing here?"

"Finishing a spell. I'm Sophie. Marcel asked me to do a huge spell for him. So, I haven't seen you around here before, what's your name?" Sophie asked as she looked through a book she had previously tucked under her arm.

"I'm…Caroline. What are you going to do to me?"

Sophie sighed and set the book down, chanting softly. All of a sudden there was a breeze going through this dungeon, which sent chills up and down Caroline's spine.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Sophie finished whatever spell she was chanting and crossed her arms, "Klaus has a deadline. He has to choose which person to save. If he doesn't choose you, then you die. It's simple."

Caroline's jaw dropped, "What? No! Who else does he have to choose from?!" She asked in fear, convinced that she would never be his first choice, it was impossible. There were others that meant more to him. She didn't want to die any more than she did that night Klaus healed her.

This couldn't be happening.

Sophie smiled, "All I'll say about her is that she's just as pretty as you. She's a pretty strong vampire, just like you. You've met her before, I think you've even teamed up with her to take down Klaus himself. It's a shame one of you will have to die." She sneered before walking away from Caroline.

Tears clouded her eyes as she put the pieces together, it must have been Rebekah. He'd never pick anyone over Rebekah.

Caroline started crying as she realized she was going to die.

* * *

><p>"What are you going to do?" Rebekah asked as she followed Klaus outside to his car. "Which one are you going to choose?"<p>

Klaus stopped in his tracks and clutched his car keys just a bit tighter, how could he choose which one to save? It was damn near impossible.

"I haven't gotten that far in my plan, Rebekah. I can try to save both…"

She shook her head, "Don't you think the witches had covered that already? If you try that, won't they both die?"

Marcel's mocking words resonated in his mind as he turned his back to his sister once again, "Yes…But I have to try something. I can't just let them both die."

"My god, what in the hell has happened to you? You actually want to save people? What happened to the mighty Niklaus that cared for no one and didn't care who lived or breathed? What happened to the Klaus that killed anyone who gave him a dirty look? You're so_ soft_ now, it's pathetic." Rebekah ranted as she heard the sympathetic tone in his voice, this caring person was not her brother. At least, not the brother she remembered being around the past one thousand years.

Her words angered him, how could she even try and act like _he _was pathetic for caring for two people when she herself threw herself at any man who gave her a friendly smile?

"You want to know what happened to me that would make me so compassionate, is that it? I thought that you would be the only person to understand it. Love, sister. Love happened to me." He said with a bitter laugh as he turned to face her, she was going to reply but was shut up when she saw tears in his eyes, tears of a man broken. It confused yet upset her, this was something so unfamiliar.

"I let people into the deepest parts of my heart and now they are weaknesses. And I hate that they are, but I love these people. If that makes me pathetic, then you've been a tragic soul your entire life." He shot at her before walking briskly to his car to leave.

She was left speechless. His words stung slightly, but she knew he was only saying it to hurt her. She more astonished than anything else. He had actually admitted to loving people and that was something she thought would happen when they were at least ten thousand years old.

She watched with her mouth agape as he drove away from their house, an urgency in his speed and vast turns.

With a shake of her head, she pulled her phone out and dialed a number so familiar, she doubted she would ever forget it.

"Hello?" The deep voice of her true love greeted her.

"Please stop this, Marcel…Please." She begged, hoping that her pleas would soften him and make him stop these petty games, she felt her heart was close to breaking just because of the vulnerability in her brother's gaze.

Marcel sighed, his cold exterior breaking when he heard her saddened voice, "I won't. I'm not doing it to hurt you, okay, remember that. It's between me and Klaus."

"But hurting him, killing one of these girls, hurts me. Please just make it stop. There's no point. You'll hurt him and make him angry then he'll retaliate. It'll be a never ending cycle. Let it end." She practically begged, she saw no good outcome and, just as Klaus had said, she loved these people and she couldn't bear the thought of them tearing each other down and apart over a city.

She waited with bated breath for a response but after several painstakingly long seconds, the call ended. He had hung up on her.

* * *

><p>Hayley watched the clock against the wall, counting down the minutes.<p>

One hour, thirty two minutes, ten…nine…eight…seven seconds left until Klaus makes the choice.

She was more than convinced that she was going to die. And she hated that she would.

There was still so many things she had wanted to do. She had never seen the Eiffel Tower…or Mount Everest.

There's so many things she just wishes she could say to so many people. She had planned to thank Rebekah for giving her clothes when they had realized she had had nothing with her. She had wanted to tell Elijah that she was grateful he had been there when Klaus left her to deal with her transition alone.

Elijah…Oh Elijah…She was a fool to never tell him how she felt.

Call her a slut or a sick bitch, but she had at first been very attracted to Klaus and had thought maybe they could have a romantic future. That of course had changed when she had met Elijah.

He was Klaus's polar opposite. And she liked that about him.

He was caring, he was there for her. When she nearly lost it because of her newfound bloodlust, he was there to quell her anxieties. When she was heartbroken to realize that she was never going to grow old, never going to bear children, he had comforted her.

She had fallen in love with him, but kept it to herself because why waste her time and effort, why break her own heart when she knew he would reject her without a second thought? She was nothing special. Just an orphaned wolf who turned into an even greater monster.

Hugging her knees, she let her sobs finally break free.

She didn't want to die.

* * *

><p>She didn't want to die.<p>

Caroline chanted to herself over and over again as she rocked back herself back and forth.

It wasn't fair. Why was she always taken away and used as leverage?

Maybe it was this cosmic joke the universe was playing on her. As a human, she had wished that she wanted to be the one people saw and wanted. It seemed like an eternity ago when she wished for something so petty. Now the universe, or fate, or the Devil himself was granting that wish tenfold.

Now people saw her and wanted to use her as bait, leverage, a fun target to throw darts at.

She'd give her immortality just to be that insecure teenage girl obscured by Elena's shadow. She had taken that life for granted.

And now look where it's all gotten her.

Death.

It had gotten her here. In this dungeon, chained to these walls, waiting with no hope whatsoever.

Klaus wouldn't choose to save her. They had had a fling. It was a slowly built up fling, but a fling nonetheless.

It wasn't fair.

She knew she didn't have much time left.

She should've told her Mom that it was okay to leave town and move on, get a boyfriend, get a life that didn't revolve around the Mystic Falls supernatural squabbles.

She should've told Elena to move on and accept the fact that Damon was dead and gone forever.

She should've visited Bonnie's grave more.

She should've compelled Matt to forget all of them and leave this life behind, go to California and marry some surfer chick ten times hotter than any of the Mystic Falls girls.

She should've thanked Stefan for making her into the powerful, sociable, bunny-eating vampire she loved being. She should've hugged him one more time.

So many things she should've done…She had thought she'd have more time…

It's ironic…even immortals are taken by surprise at the little amount of time they're given.

It's not fair.

"I don't want to die." She whispered brokenly to herself as she squeezed her eyes shut and rested her forehead against her knees, pulling her legs up and squeezing them. She ran out of tears to cry now, but her heart hurt. "I'm not ready to die…"

"Good…because you won't be dying anytime soon." A voice sounded from the spot Sophie had been in before.

She jerked her head up and a smile graced her tear stained face, was this real?

* * *

><p>Klaus weighed his options as he drove around town, thinking of where Marcel could've stashed Caroline.<p>

The list of possible locations was endless.

He had made his choice the moment Marcel told him of his ultimatum.

He wasn't going to let the woman he was in love with die. It was inconceivable.

He'd lay down his own life before he'd ever let her come close to death again. It was ridiculous for him to say, but hey, when you let yourself realize that you love someone, that's usually when you start saying sappy shit like that.

He just needed to figure out where she was. He had less than an hour now…

What if he'd get there too late?

A slight pain of regret hit him straight in the chest as he thought of Hayley.

He had left her behind to die.

He loved her in a way. He wasn't _in love_ with her, but she had a place in his heart.

Perhaps it was because Elijah seemed to be in love with her, or at least falling in love with her. He saw her as a suitable sister. Easy to get along with, they had those fights he almost always has with Rebekah and Elijah on a daily basis.

He loved her as a sister. The little wolf bitch he had wanted only as a servant snaked her way into his heart where he had kept his siblings.

Guilt and regret gnawed at his chest as he realized he couldn't let either of them die.

But what was he supposed to do?

He knew there wouldn't be enough time, but it was worth a try wasn't it?

As quick as he could, he pulled his cellphone out of his jacket pocket and called Elijah.

"What do you want, Niklaus?" Elijah didn't bother with pleasantries today, he sounded winded almost.

"Listen to me, I need you to go save Hayley. I'm looking for Caroline now. I can't save them both, that's what Marcel said, but he said nothing about me saving one and you saving the other. She's at our mansion in Mystic Falls."

Elijah laughed, "Only moments ago, I was completely infuriated with you, thinking that you would actually let Hayley die _again_. Now, I'm more than happy with you."

Klaus was confused but played along, "Well I'm glad. Now go quickly. We don't have much time left."

"I already saved her. Rebekah overheard the information Marcel shared with you and I quickly made my way here. She's safe."

Klaus felt one weight lift off his shoulders, "Good."

"Find Caroline…It's a god theory you have about a loophole but you could be wrong and…"

Klaus felt his heart drop to the pit of his stomach, "And she could be dead already. I didn't think of that…I'll find her." He said in a clipped tone before tossing his phone to the passenger seat.

He was starting to become frantic as he sped through the city.

What if she was really gone now? What if he had been wrong and the moment Elijah saved Hayley, she had died?

Was it possible for a thousand year old vampire to feel sick? He was feeling sick right now…

He passed by the church and felt that pull in his heart…the familiar pull that he always felt when Caroline was near him.

She must be here…

He pulled over the car and ran into the building, not even bothering to shut off the car.

The church was empty.

Not even a candle was lit in the corner where many humans knelt to pray for mundane things such as wealth or power, such human trivial wants.

He ran upstairs to the room Marcel had hidden Davina away in and still nothing, only dust greeted him.

He refused to believe that he was wrong. He had felt her. She was here.

He had at least fifteen minutes left to spare, she had to be somewhere.

He paced back downstairs and searched around the building yet still there was nothing.

Running back into the church, he paced back and forth, there had to be somewhere he was missing.

He gripped the pew and was about to toss it into the air when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a small door on the ground, shrouded in darkness.

It was right beside the kneelers of the candle display. A basement.

He let out a small, quiet, gleeful laugh as he rushed toward it and quickly made his way down the steep steps.

Again, that fear went through him. What if she was here but she was dead?

Quiet cries echoed through the room, feminine cries.

Caroline.

He sprinted to where the cries were coming from and smiled when he saw her sitting there, her thin arms wrapped around her jean clad legs.

"I don't want to die…I'm not ready to die." She said in a whisper as quiet as a light breeze.

He looked down at his watch and saw he had five minutes left. "Good, because you won't be dying anytime soon."

She jerked her head up and smiled at him, she had tear stains on her cheeks, her makeup was smudged, her hair was tangled, her clothes wrinkled. But she had never looked more beautiful to him. "You came for me?"

"No I just like dungeons." He said with a smirk as he yanked the chains off of her and lifted her into his arms.

He sped out of the room and before she knew it, she was standing next to his car.

"Wait. You let Rebekah die?" She asked in a panicked voice and he couldn't help but laugh at her assumption.

"The choice wasn't between you and Rebekah. It was between you and my brother's soon-to-be girlfriend. Elijah saved her as I've saved you."

Caroline smiled, "Oh. That makes me feel a lot better. I was almost sure that you would've let me die."

"I may try and kill you. I may even have someone try and kill you. But no way in hell will I actually let you die. Just remember that for next time." Klaus said before leaning down and leaving a gentle kiss upon her lips.

She reciprocated of course, but pulled away not too long after, "Next time? Geez, how many time are you gonna bite me?"

"Well…We can go to my place and stay in bed all day and I'll show you just how many times I can…You can drink from me too, of course." He said coyly.

She blushed and reached up to initiate this kiss.

Klaus made a mental note to kick Marcel in the balls before thanking him for this twisted chance at love.

* * *

><p>Marcel watched from afar as Klaus walked into the house with Caroline on his arm while Elijah was sitting on the sofa beside Hayley.<p>

Rebekah stood beside him and smiled, "Thank you for stopping the spell."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't let them know that I did though. Let them think they outsmarted me. I'm only doing it for you, don't forget that." Marcel said in a mopey voice.

She laughed and put a slender arm around his waist, "Of course. Klaus and Elijah will both kick your ass, just so you know."

* * *

><p><em><strong>Playlist –<strong>_

_**Not Gonna Die - Skillet**_


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